The Spellery Vol 5 July 2015 - Page 26

The advice I would give to beginning writers is this: Write about what you know, and be willing to dedicate hours and hours

of your life to your craft. You are putting your name on that book, article, or whatever, and if everyone had to sign their

work as we writers do, well … what a better world we would soon see.

What message would you like your books to send to our readers?

There are, I hope, many good messages within each of my Sleuth Sisters Mysteries, and I incorporate those messages into each story without being pontifical. “The real magick is believing in yourself.” My Sleuth Sister Raine McDonough wears a

signature piece of jewelry—a gold magick wand encrusted with sparkling diamonds. She wears it to remind herself that

“Thoughts are magick wands, powerful enough to make anything happen—anything we choose!”

What advice would you give to the young witches of today?

I suppose that if I were to give a trilogy of advice to young witches it would be to be careful when choosing mentors.

Remember to always follow the Witches’ Rede of “Harm None,” and when spellcasting to remember that there is really no right or wrong way—it is INTENT that counts.

Where can our readers find your series The Sleuth Sisters?

All my books can be found online at Amazon Books/www.amazonbooks.com. An ad for my Sleuth Sisters Mysteries with a link to my books can be found in this issue of The Spellery. Readers can always go to Amazon Books and type my name

CEANE O’HANLON-LINCOLN into the Search Box atop the page, which will whisk them to my author’s page, where all my books will appear. Simply click on each cover to peruse and/or purchase. All my Sleuth Sisters Mysteries and my hauntingly beautiful short-story collection Autumn Song are available in both Kindle format and paperback. Autumn Song is a magickal collection of sixteen tales interwoven by theme and resurfacing characters– a keeper that readers will revisit oftenas they do an old and cherished friend.

What inspires you?

I will answer your query as to what inspires me with the message to my readers that I include at the end of each of my Sleuth Sisters Mysteries: I write because writing is, to me, empowering. Writing is creation. When I take up a pen or sit at my computer, I am a goddess, a deity wielding that pen like a faerie godmother waves a wand. Via will, clever word-choice and placement, I can arrange symbols and characters to invoke a whole circuitous route of emotions, images, ideas, arm-chair travel– and, yes indeed, even time-travel. A writer can create– magick. I am often asked where I get my inspiration. The answer is: From everything and everyone around me. I love to travel, discover new places, and meet new people and I have never been shy about talking to people I don’t know. I love to talk, so over the years, I’ve had to train myself to be a good listener. One cannot learn anything new, talking. People also ask me if there is any truth to my stories

about the Sleuth Sisters. To me, they are very real, though each is my own creation, and since I have always drawn from life

when I write, I would have to say that there is a measure of truth in each of their essences– and in each of their adventures.

Do you have a favorite writer / Author?

Do I have a favorite writer/author? That’s the toughest question of all to answer, for I have several, and since so many of

them are dear friends, mentors and muses, I shall refrain from naming names, but suffice it to say that I have many favorite

authors and writer friends, and, as I do with my readers– I cherish each and every one of them.